connect circle 2025: A dimedis Event, where Retail, Fair and Event Experts Meet, Connect and Inspire

Two days. Four indus­tries. Count­less ideas. The con­nect cir­cle is an event that will be remem­bered. At the end of Sep­tem­ber, our event in Cologne brought togeth­er deci­sion-mak­ers and experts from a wide range of indus­tries. With one goal: to learn from each oth­er, exchange ideas, and gain new per­spec­tives for the future of the indus­tries. Both days began at our dimedis office, where we had set up a spe­cial show­room. Here, par­tic­i­pants were able to expe­ri­ence our lat­est solu­tions for dig­i­tal sig­nage, vis­i­tor man­age­ment, and retail media live and try them out for them­selves. Thurs­day focused on var­i­ous retail top­ics. There were dis­cus­sions about AI and new busi­ness mod­els, as well as excit­ing insights from well-known com­pa­nies. In the evening, there was a net­work­ing din­ner with a var­ied buf­fet and atmos­pher­ic music. It was the per­fect set­ting to deep­en con­ver­sa­tions, make new con­tacts, and end the day in a relaxed atmos­phere. Fri­day was ded­i­cat­ed to the fair and event indus­try. The focus here was on dig­i­tal trans­for­ma­tion and smart technologies.

Retail media is now con­sid­ered one of the most excit­ing and dynam­ic top­ics in com­merce. Experts from var­i­ous com­pa­nies and fields pro­vid­ed insights into how the medi­um is evolv­ing from hype to a sus­tain­able busi­ness mod­el. Speak­ers includ­ed Iri­na Schmitz from BVDW, who empha­sized the enor­mous growth poten­tial in the field of com­merce media, as well as rep­re­sen­ta­tives from XXXLutz and POCO, who spoke open­ly about their expe­ri­ences with the intro­duc­tion of in-store cam­paigns and data-dri­ven strate­gies. In addi­tion, NOMOO, any­bill, and One Tech Group shared valu­able insights from their respec­tive areas of exper­tise. Top­ics ranged from sus­tain­able brand build­ing and data-dri­ven in-store ana­lyt­ics to tech­no­log­i­cal solu­tions for dig­i­tal adver­tis­ing spaces.
Prof. Alexan­der Lutz also high­light­ed how AI will change the way retail data is han­dled in the future. Final­ly, Daniel Gehring, for­mer CIO of Signa Sports Unit­ed, showed what real­ly mat­ters: fast ROI, resilience, and clear strate­gies instead of mere visions.

In the evening, Matthias Klein gave a keynote speech that round­ed off the day per­fect­ly. Draw­ing on his wealth of expe­ri­ence, he spoke clear­ly about inno­va­tion as a con­stant. The event then con­tin­ued with a net­work­ing din­ner in a relaxed atmos­phere. Good food, music, and plen­ty of per­son­al con­ver­sa­tions pro­vid­ed an oppor­tu­ni­ty to deep­en con­tacts, gain new per­spec­tives, and bring the day to a close together.

After an inten­sive first day full of retail insights, Fri­day focused on the fair and event indus­try. The sec­ond day of the event offered a fas­ci­nat­ing look at how dig­i­tal tech­nolo­gies, intel­li­gent sys­tems, and net­worked process­es are per­ma­nent­ly chang­ing the trade fair industry.

It start­ed with a spe­cial high­light: the pan­el dis­cus­sion, which brought togeth­er Juliane Jähnke (agen­dum Schmitt & Jähnke PartG), Rowe­na Arzt (IPB), Daniel Götze (Mar­ket­ing of Moments), Dr. Chris­t­ian Plenge from Messe Düs­sel­dorf, and Michael Arzt from Koel­n­messe. In a live­ly exchange, they dis­cussed oppor­tu­ni­ties, chal­lenges, and the future of the industry.

Messe Düs­sel­dorf and Messe Köln pro­vid­ed exclu­sive insights into their dig­i­tal strate­gies and demon­strat­ed how tech­nol­o­gy can make trade fair vis­its more con­ve­nient, effi­cient, and enjoy­able. Messe Düs­sel­dorf pre­sent­ed how dig­i­tal solu­tions can pro­mote gen­uine encoun­ters. The focus was on the dimedis net­work­ing tool for smart­phones, which low­ers bar­ri­ers, cre­ates uncom­pli­cat­ed con­tact oppor­tu­ni­ties, and helps to make net­work­ing at and after a trade fair more inten­sive and sus­tain­able. Koel­n­messe then joined forces with Axess AG and dimedis to present an impres­sive exam­ple of mod­ern tech­nol­o­gy part­ner­ship. The admis­sion man­age­ment sys­tem shows how smooth­ly soft­ware and hard­ware can inter­act, enabling hun­dreds of thou­sands of vis­i­tors to enter the exhi­bi­tion grounds in the short­est pos­si­ble time.